Welcome

Welcome to Discipleship: The Doctrine of Growing in Christ, the third course in the Pathmark series.

In Scripture you saw what God has spoken. In Missions you saw what He has sent His church to do with what He has spoken. In Discipleship you will see what God is making of the people who hear and obey that Word.

A disciple is a follower. The word means learner, but it means more than student. A disciple gives himself over to a master, watches him, imitates him, obeys him, suffers with him. When Jesus walked along the Sea of Galilee and said, "Follow me," He was not handing out a syllabus. He was calling men out of their boats.

The shape of this course is the pentagon. Five sides. Five disciplines that mark the life of a disciple.

• Learning. Sitting at Christ's feet under the Word.
• Imitating. Copying the pattern of Christ and faithful believers.
• Obeying. Doing what He commands, not just knowing what He commands.
• Persevering. Running the long race.
• Multiplying. Investing in others as others have invested in you.

The pentagon also has a foundation underneath and a goal above. The foundation is the call of Christ Himself. The goal is maturity in Christ, becoming the kind of person Christ is forming.

By the end of this course you will be able to name what a disciple is, explain the five disciplines in your own words, and identify one disciple-making relationship you will pursue in the next thirty days.

Plan for about fifty-five minutes. You can stop and come back. Your progress will be saved. Before you start, open your Bible to Luke 9:23 and Matthew 4:18-22. Read both slowly.

Begin with prayer. Ask Christ to do what He does best. Make you a disciple.